There is a run on the most popular weeks with Marriott TS too, except by those that have '
fixed' week systems. Fortunately many owners don't know how to work the
'floating week' system properly, but enough of them do that the weeks you want are often gone a couple of minutes after 9 a.m. on booking day...9.03 will be too late if you want Williamsburg Manor Club for July 4th, even though there are about 288 suites! I've never missed getting that week knowing how to play the system. With HCC the week will be gone right at the opening bell as there's only one!
In addition to increasing sales, Marriott eased the situation for
multiple week owners by allowing them to book 50% of the capacity
13 months ahead...and I've
never missed booking
four weeks in a row (splitting two 2-bdrm suites into four parts called locking off)
from Pres Day week to mid March at Marriott BeachPlace Ft. Laud. The 1 week owners have a more difficult time as those who missed out on the 13 month window can also try at the 12 month day for the remaining 50%. Marriott owners can also book 2 weeks in a row 13 months ahead at different resorts if they own at both.
The TS situation is probably worse than for DC's due to the number of owners competing for the same week, but because there are more units available it might now be easier than for HCC members as there is only one availability for each location for the primary week.
For instance, a 200 suite TS has about 10,000 owners (and some locations are prime all year - like Hawaii). Owners get on the phone EXACTLY at 9 a.m. 12 months (or 13 months if they own
and book at least 2 weeks in a row at that resort) BUT when the 200 suites are gone with Marriott's 100+ booking agents, they're gone in minutes. This is a constant disadvantage for 'floating' weeks and probably the reason Marriott started offering 'fixed' weeks
at higher prices of course. The owners who do miss out might find them on the exchange company offerings at Interval International easier than booking direct and usually get a bonus week for what they do deposit.
The HCC location expansion is something I definitely see as a potential problem. Even with only 400 members potentially competing for the same New Year's week, the first one gets it as there are no more ... so potentially 399 upset members - thus 'use' restrictions come into play...Bill might not be able to book NYC next year at all. As I've mentioned in another thread, there's also very little to choose from on the east coast
if someone wants to drive there and this must be addressed by HCC as
there are twice as many potential members east of the Mississippi than west...thus more competition for a VERY limited selection.
Although I've never used it with Marriott vacation resort locations and not business locales, some of their resorts have a 3 & 4 night option for your 7 night entitlement. The HCC idea of 3 & 4 night stays appeals to me for
business use in NYC (and Chicago, Boston, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, LA, if added one day) as I usually stay at the NYC Marriott Renaissance or the Marquis ... so I'd fill in the empty spaces for those who booked the weekends. But that short a stay might be useless for vacationers unless you might be on the move with short stays touring a country like Italy - Rome, Amalfi, Florence, Venice, Milan, etc. Being stuck in Tuscany HCC for 1-2 weeks isn't of interest to me.
For vacationers the limit on booking multiple weeks in a row is a negative for DC's too. The DC market is pretty new, growing fast, and there will be lots of pains ahead if unit growth doesn't grow with member growth.
Brian
...I suspect this will be an ongoing an issue for HCC, as well as other DCs, and some timeshares (although I'm not personally familiar with the TS world). It could be the thing that turns people off of buying in.